Moments in Time
by Kara's Aunty
Summary: Drabbles I originally posted on MNFF Beta Boards in response to Monthly Challenges. Chapter 2: A Weasley prank goes horribly wrong ... AU.


**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter is owned by J.K Rowling, etc. Not me. I'm only dabbling my unworthy fingers in her magical world. No Copyright infringement is intended.

**Credit:** Harry Potter dot wikia dot com

_Author's Note:_ This was a response to the March Madness challenge over on Mugglenet. The challenge was to write a drabble of maximum 750 words regarding an HP character who spends a day in either Tom Riddle's, the Marauders', Harry Potter's or the Next Gen's era at Hogwarts. The spring forward or step backward in time did not have to be explained, just accepted. The chosen character (either Luna, Bellatrix, Mad-Eye or Trelawney) had to interact with the contemporary characters in the time frame they had appeared in. Tell me what you think …

**The Dream**

* * *

Luna Lovegood entered the Great Hall for breakfast, her wand sticking haphazardly behind her right ear.

Smiling, she spotted the dark-haired, bespectacled figure of Harry Potter sitting at the Gryffindor table. There was a free seat beside him! But who was that strange boy at his side? It was not Ron Weasley!

Oh, well. She could ask him when she got there. With a spring in her step, Luna quickly reached the Gryffindor table and took the empty seat. The boys, who had been huddled in discussion, paused to stare at her.

"Hello," said the stranger; a good-looking boy with dark, wavy, shoulder-length hair. "I think you're at the wrong table, aren't you?"

Luna ignored him to stare, for several long seconds, at Harry.

Except …

"You're not Harry," she announced, puzzled. "Your nose is longer, and your eyes are brown."

"Very clever. I can tell you're a Ravenclaw," answered the Boy-Who-Wasn't-Harry, though his tone was more amused than unkind. "Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm James. James Potter." James lifted a hand and ruffled his hair, gazing wistfully at a pretty redhead sitting a few seats away.

"And I'm Sirius Black," said James' good-looking friend. Sirius leaned over the table and winked flirtatiously. "But you can call me Harry, if you want."

"Why would I want to call you by someone else's name?" enquired Luna, casually accepting her apparent spring in time (when others would run screaming for the hills). Obviously she was dreaming: and, as disappointing as it was not to be dreaming about a Crumple-horned Snorkack, a subconscious step back in time could still be fascinating. "Are you tired of being Sirius? If you are, you could always use one of your other names."

"What 'other names'?" demanded Sirius in amused surprise.

"Snuffles, of course," said Luna, pouring herself a glass of pumpkin juice. "Or Padfoot."

Two jaws dropped in astonishment just as the food vanished from the tables. Luna's glass vanished in kind, leaving her empty-handed.

"Oh! And I was so thirsty."

She rose, disappointed, and intent on departing, when, suddenly, she paused as realisation struck. Staring at dream-Sirius in wide-eyed solemnity, she offered him some advice.

After all, what harm could it do?

"Never trust a rat, Sirius Black. Ever. _Always_ place your faith in the wolf - he'll never let you down."

If the Gryffindors' jaws could have dropped any more, they would have fallen clean off their faces.

Excited by her inexplicable time-travel dream, Luna headed for her first class and spent much of the day thereafter parent-spotting (other people's: her own were too old to attend school with Harry's … Although, this _was_ a dream, so anything could happen, couldn't it? She might even run across a Crumple-horned Snorkack in the Forbidden Forest!).

But her Care of Magical Creatures class did not involve a trip to the Forest that day. Instead, Luna resigned herself to sketching Quintapeds with Frank Longbottom and dodging increasingly frantic questions from Sirius Black.

On her way to the Ravenclaw common room after dinner, Luna ran into the tall, bearded figure of the Headmaster.

"Oh, hello Professor Dumbledore."

"Good evening, Miss …"

"Luna Lovegood," she supplied helpfully.

"Luna Lovegood? How peculiar; I don't seem to recall that name on the school register …"

"That's because there's an outbreak of Wrackspurts in Hogwarts," she said seriously. "They make people's brains go fuzzy. You should pay Madam Pomfrey a visit. I'm sure she'll know how to deal with them."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled furiously behind his half-moon spectacles. "Wrackspurts? That _is_ fascinating. I shall take your advice to heart, Miss Lovegood." He stared at her shrewdly for several seconds. "Perhaps afterwards, you would care to join me in my office for tea? Shall we say seven o'clock? Then you may tell me all about Wrackspurts - among other things."

Delighted at the offer, Luna accepted.

Unfortunately, she did not make her appointment with the Headmaster. Tired after her long day, she fell asleep by the common room fireplace. And when she woke up …

She was back in her own bed, rather disappointed to have missed her appointment with Professor Dumbledore.

At breakfast, she skipped to the Gryffindor table once more, this time to tell Harry that she had met his parents during the night. To her delight, he was already there.

But to her shock, he did not bear the lightning-bolt scar that he ought to. Though the boy beside him did …

And that boy was _Neville Longbottom!_

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